The Pacers are on their way to the Big Apple. With the Knicks sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference, this won’t be an easy game to walk into. The Pacers have looked good recently, but with Haliburton struggling to find the basket, can the rest of this team pull through? Or will the dominant trio of Brunson, Towns, and Bridges be too much for a Pacers team on the rise?
Pacome Dadiet Out
Josh Hart Probable
OG Anunoby Questionable
Mitchell Robinson Out
Myles Turner Questionable
The Pacers have been a strong team for the last month. They’ve slipped a bit over their last couple of games but still won seven of their last ten. With Haliburton slowing down going into All-Star weekend, things have been interesting in Indiana.
They have relied almost entirely on Pascal Siakam to keep them afloat. It helps he’s having one of his best years, but he needs help from Haliburton. We’ve seen what this group can look like when Haliburton is in prime form, but it doesn’t look likely we’ll see that tonight.
Halliburton has struggled against teams with strong point-of-attack defenders, which the Knicks have a few of. Even with OG listed as questionable for tonight, the combo of Hart and Bridges is a tough sell for this version of Haliburton to beat. If the Knicks have OG, it might be too much for the Pacers to break through.
The Knicks, on the other hand, continue a strong season, with Brunson having had an excellent run recently. With a 34-18 record, they’re third in the East and right above the Pacers despite being up 4.5 games in the standings.
New York matchups up well across the board against the Pacers. They have the size to block out Pascal, loads of scoring, and a strong defense. They’re built to beat teams like Indiana.
The most significant advantage the Knicks have is Karl Towns. In the two games that the Pacers and Knicks have already played this year, Towns is averaging 25 points and 12 rebounds. He’s been playing some of the best basketball of his life, and with Myles Turner as questionable tonight, he might feast.
If Turner plays, this game will be much more interesting. Turner is having a good year and remains one of the best perimeter-shooting bigs in the league. He’s hitting nearly 40% of his threes and scoring 15 points a game. The combination of Turner and Siakam has been the core of the Pacers' success.
Overall, the Knicks are still the better bet tonight. They’ve been a strong team all year and have the perfect pieces on the roster to shut down the Pacers. They should win this one handily unless Haliburton can find his shot.
Money line: NYK (-135) / IND (+114)
Total Points: 240
Spread: -2.5 NYK (-110) / +2.5 IND (-110)
The Knicks are the value line tonight. Even at -135, a bit of meat remains on the bone here. Even though the Knicks and Pacers have split their games this year 1-1, the Pacers have looked a step slow recently. With Haliburton’s scoring disappearing, this should be a strong game for the Knicks to run away with.
Both groups can score. In their second game against each other, they scored 250 points together. Even though their line is set high at 240, that is well within reach.
This is a hard one, but I don’t think the final score will be within three points. Whoever wins will likely have a solid margin by the end of the game. In their last two matchups, the winning team has won by 10+ points. Stick with the better team tonight.
Towns should be in for a solid game tonight. If Turner is on the bench tonight, the paint should be vulnerable. Towns has averaged 25.5 points over the last two games against the Pacers. So, the 25-point line feels right.
Pascal may have another big workload ahead of him. Considering how well he’s played, he’ll likely catch all the attention from the Knick's defense tonight. If OG is playing tonight, Siakam will have a hard time finding his shot or getting boards over Towns.
This line is weird. The Knicks are a great rebounding team, but Mathurin has been averaging 6 rebounds a game over the last three games. He’s averaging 5.7 for the season, so tossing the line up at 4.5 with plus odds on the over is amazing.
This is a low line for Haliburton. However, the way he has shot, or even his unwillingness to shoot against good defenders, this line could hit. He could easily break this line in the first half, but it’s worth the risk the way his gameplay is trending.